I know You
by willbendforhonor
Summary: AU. Hook returns to the enchanted forest and meets a beautiful young woman named Rose. Things get complicated when they learn of each other's true identities. A retelling of 'Sleeping Beauty'.
1. Chapter 1

'Captain Killian Jones, or _Hook _as people knew him, gazed through his periscope on the horizon of the land. This was the world that he was born in, and he had just returned to this world after a very long time. He breathed in the fresh air and smiled to himself. After being in Neverland for so long, he'd thought that much had changed in the Enchanted Forest yet, to his surprise, very little had.

He turned back and walked towards his cabin giving orders to his men along the way. Hook ruled them with an iron fist and even though they've spent a lot of time together, he wasn't a sentimental man. After all, you can't trust a pirate, especially when you're a pirate yourself. After giving strict orders to Mr. Smee about not disturbing him, he locked himself in his cabin.

In his cabin, he went on to look at the navigational charts on his desk but his mind was farther away from the maps and compasses that lay on his desk. Three hundred years. The Jolly Roger and its crew have been away from this land for three hundred years, and not a day of it shows on any of their faces. Hook never meant to stay in Neverland that long, but while he was coming up with a plan to extract his revenge on his crocodile, he got sidetracked by a pesky flying boy who just wouldn't grow up. Before he knew it, several decades have passed before he could even think about coming back home.

But now Hook was back and he's decided that he's waited long enough to take his revenge. He knew what he needed to do to get rid of Rumplestiltskin. All he needed was to find the knife that was the hidden weakness of the Dark One.

A loud knock to his cabin door brought Hook back to the Jolly Roger. He went to open the door and found a very nervous Smee looking up at him. The Captain's temper was very famous on his ship (and even in some of the ports) and his first mate didn't want to receive it on their first day back.

"What is it?" Hook asked and Smee flinched at the dryness of his tone.

"I'm really sorry to disturb you captain but . . . um. . . we've currently docked to replenish our supplies." Smee stammered, keeping his eyes to the ground.

"Isn't it too early for that?" Hook asked him, with a hint of annoyance in his voice "We just got back and don't we still have supplies from before we left Neverland?"

"Well, you see Captain." Smee started to explain "I think the crew was just a bit too . . . happy . . . when we finally headed for home that they might . . . have been . . . celebrating . . . a bit." Smee closed his eyes and braced himself for the outburst of the captain that was coming.

A moment or two passed and Smee opened one eye to find the captain looking down on him, his face unreadable with probably the faintest hint of a smirk. The next thing he knew Hook had stepped back into his cabin, grabbed his coat and walked out towards the gangplank.

"Um . . . captain?" Smee, not having moved from the entrance of the Captain's cabin, called out to Hook.

Hook turned around, "Seeing as the crew has already started celebrating, I think I could use a bit of celebration myself." He replied to Smee's questioning expression "Tell the crew that we have three days here and get the supplies first so that they don't forget and they can do whatever they want after. Is that clear?"

"Yes Cap'n" Smee answered with a salute.

"I'll see you in three days then" and with that Hook put on his hat and turned around to walk in to the dock, while thinking about the many ways he plan to celebrate his homecoming.

"Now, don't forget to be careful on which berries you're picking, after all they could be poisonous." An elderly woman with her bright red apron was reminding her niece while handing to her a basket and her coat.

"Yes Aunt Flora, I know." The woman's niece replied with playful annoyance at her aunt's nagging.

"And remember to not stray too far, after all there could be anything here in the forest." A second aunt yelled out from the kitchen

"Yes Aunt Fauna" The young lady replied, she truly did love her aunts, but honestly, this was too much. She's been out picking berries on her own since she turned 13. She moved towards the door in the hopes of leaving before they could say anything else.

"And-"Aunt Flora started to say before a third Aunt, dressed in green, came down.

"Enough of that" she interrupted "If you two keep on going on like this, it'll be too dark for her to go out and we won't have any berries. Now, get along dear and we'll see you later."

"Thank you Aunt Merryweather" their niece replied to her aunt "I'll see you all soon."

"See you later Rose, keep safe." Aunt Flora called out to her as she stepped out into the forest.

Rose walked along the path that she knew so well, stopping every so often to check the berry bushes along the way. She wasn't in a hurry, there was still a lot of time before it got dark, and Rose loved to walk in the forest. It was where she let her imagination run wild without at least one of her aunts calling for her help in one task or another.

Rose loved her three aunts dearly but sometimes she found their overprotectiveness suffocating. It took a lot of convincing for them to start letting her pick berries alone and even up to now when she's been doing it for years they still worry over her as if she were a little girl. There were also times when the three of them would go into a panic searching over the whole house thinking that she'd gone missing when in truth she was just in their attic reading by the window. Rose never could understand why her aunts were so overprotective. But she just shrugged it off as she continued towards the glen by the stream that was her favorite part of the forest.

She parted the curtain of leaves and vines that hid the entrance to the glen and only when she passed through did she heave sigh and felt truly relaxed. She took off her coat and placed it with her basket of berries under one of the trees and walked towards the stream. Rose started to hum to herself while she dipped her feet into the water and lost herself in her thoughts.

Rose had a dream the previous night. She dreamt that she met a handsome young prince that came and promised to take her away to see far-off places and have great adventures with her. It was the memory of this dream that Rose lost herself in that afternoon in the glen.

Hook found himself wandering in a forest next to the town whose port the Jolly Roger had docked. It was only late in the afternoon and yet he already found himself the _slightest bit _woozy. Okay, so maybe his surroundings were already starting to blur into each other. He'd forgotten how good the spirits were in this land.

Hook has been in a good mood all day since he left the Jolly Roger that morning. He was right when he first thought that nothing has changed in his homeland. Everything was just how he left it, which means that he still had his chance to exact his revenge on his crocodile. The mere thought of it brought a smile to his face.

The warm afternoon sunlight seemed to rest on the captain's eyelids and begged them close. That, along with the wooziness in his head from the spirits and the sight of a shady tree made Hook yawn, and he sat down in the shade making him comfortable against the trunk. He let out a contented sigh and drifted away to sleep.

Hook was having a wonderful dream; he had dreamt that he was on an island surrounded by all the riches that you could ever think of and he was happily humming to himself at his contentment. And when he didn't think that his dream could get any better, a young woman appeared on his island while he was walking. She had the most beautiful voice and she was singing to the waves. He walked closer to get a better view of her face. But it seemed that as he got nearer to the young woman, her features blurred together while the singing grew louder . . .

Hook awoke with a start, and as he looked around he saw that the sun was starting to set as it was casting an orange glow among the trees in the forest. He stood up while rubbing the sleep away from his eyes. But all the traces of sleep went away from him when he heard a voice singing in the forest, much like the one he heard in his dream. He began to move away from where he was to find out where the voice was coming from. He crossed a rather thick curtain of leaves and he found himself in a glen, hidden away from the forest. The glen itself was beautiful enough to take his breath away but what really got him stopping in his tracks was the beautiful young woman who sat by the stream, humming to herself.

Rose was lost in her thoughts she waded her feet in the stream, she hummed to herself a tune while she would play with the animals that occasionally passed by her. She had her back turned to the entrance of the glen and she was so lost in thought that she didn't hear or notice Hook as he entered her sanctuary.

Hook was lost; he couldn't seem to pry his gaze away from the beauty that was in front of him. She had long brown hair that fell in perfect waves down her back and skin that was so fair and it looked so smooth that Hook had to stop himself from reaching out to touch her. She was just wearing a plain white dress but Hook thought that it suited her perfectly. She was also humming to herself and even then he could already tell that she had an angelic voice.

He took a step forward even though his brain told him not to. Everything about her screamed her innocence that Hook knew that he should stay away. He may be a pirate, but he had principles and rewarded himself with being (somewhat) a gentleman. True, he has had his fair share of barmaids and wenches, but never innocents, he found them too complicated. But nevertheless he found his feet taking him steps closer to the lovely vision in front of him.

When he was just steps away, he stopped, and spent a few more moments to just look at her again. It was strange, he's never been this captivated by a woman before, but he pulled himself together enough to clear his throat.

Rose whipped around and quickly stood up. Her eyes widened at the sight of someone else in her glen and she was more shocked to find that this stranger wasn't unpleasant to look at either.

Hook's breath was once again taken away by the time her blue eyes gazed to look at him. She had the brightest blue eyes that he had ever seen. They were like the tropical waters that he so loved to sail through.

"_I could drown in those eyes." _He thought to himself. He shook his head at the thought and put on his charming smile.

"What are you doing here?" Rose asked the man in front of her, her expression turning from shock to defensiveness as she eyed him wearily.

"I could ask you the same thing, love" Hook answered her rather cheekily as he took a step closer, making a mental note that while he did so, she took a step back.

"I always come here. I didn't think that anybody else knew about this place." She responded rather haughtily. "I've never seen you before."

"Alright, alright. You caught me" Hook raised up his hands in defeat "I heard you singing and your voice led me here." To this, Rose crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows. Hook chuckled to himself at how she tried to look tougher than she was.

"But even if you've never seen me before, I do come from here so don't consider me a stranger" he smirked as he took a step closer.

"Are you from town?" Rose stuttered as she took another step backwards. Something about this man was unnerving her. Whether it was his voice or the piercing stare of his eyes, she wasn't sure.

"Not really, love. Let's just say that I'm, a traveler and I haven't been home in a while so I decided to look around." He stated, taking yet another step closer towards her. He didn't really know what he was doing, but he couldn't seem to stop himself.

"Oh," She replied, the words seemed to escape her as she found the distance between them closing yet again. She cleared her throat "So where have you been?"

"Everywhere, I could tell you all about them if you like." He told her with another step.

Rose took another step back, but instead of earth, her foot landed in the stream instead causing her to slip backwards. She flailed her arms trying to hold on to anything so that she wouldn't land in the water.

When He saw her slipping, Hook instinctively reached out for her at the same time as she reached out her hands. His arms found themselves winding around her waist and her hands clung on to his shoulder for balance. After all the movement has stopped they found themselves gazing into each other's eyes.

Her face was so flustered from almost falling and her eyes were so blue that Hook felt the feeling of being lost again. They stayed like that for a few moments and Hook was desperately ordering his body to move and not to bend down and kiss the woman in his arms.

After a few more moments he got himself together enough to put her in an upright position and he took a step back.

"Are you alright?" He asked, looking away not meeting her gaze

"Yes" Rose answered him as she patted down the pleats of her skirt "Thank you."

"It's no problem" He replied giving her once again his cheeky smile.

They stayed staring at each other, both not quite knowing what to say to each other, until Aurora realized how far the sun has set. With a startled "oh!" she began to gather up her basket and her coat and run out of the glen.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Hook ran after her, catching her arm causing her to stop.

"I have to go home, it's late and my aunts are probably already worried." She explained, trying to free her arm. She really needed to go; for sure she was going to get a lecture about staying out too late in the forest.

"Will I see you again? Tomorrow?" He inquired, not quite ready to let her disappear just yet

"Yes, no, maybe" She answered in a hurry

"Well, which one is it?" He replied with a smile and that look in his eyes that he knew no woman could resist.

Rose calmed down and was about to say no, but then turned and saw his expression and told him "Yes, I'll be here tomorrow."

Hook let her arm go and just when she was about to walk he took hold of her again.

"I'm Killian" He said, and when she didn't respond he added, "Are you going to tell me your name?"

She freed her arm from his grasp and started to walk away. Hook was just about to head back when she turned around and called out "I'm Rose", before running off towards her home.

"Rose" he said to himself, thinking at how perfect the name was for her, and started to walk back towards town.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day, Hook found himself whistling as he walked the path back into the woods and back into the glen. He was surprised at his excitement over seeing Rose again.

_Rose. _Even just the thought of her name brought a silly smile to his face. He stopped walking and shook his head. He reprimanded himself for how he was acting at the moment. It wasn't as if he was looking for anything serious with the girl, he just wanted a bit of fun to fill his remaining two days in this part of the Enchanted Forest. _But probably not_ _too much _fun, he mused as he started walking again. After all, she's still far too innocent for someone like him. Hook may have principles, but at the end of the day he's still a pirate.

Hook arrived at the glen and was surprised at his disappointment upon seeing that Rose hadn't arrived yet. He shook his head again and told himself to pull it together. _It's only a couple of hours past noon _He told himself as he looked around the glen _We didn't even agree to a specific time, she'll probably be here soon, _he realized that he didn't really take a good look around his surroundings yesterday since he was much too preoccupied with Rose and he decided to go exploring to kill the time.

Rose entered the glen around an hour later, a bit dazed. She was surprised at how easily she had gotten her aunts to let her leave the cottage that afternoon. Normally she'd go nearer to sunset and then her aunts would fuss over her and Rose would have to pull herself away from their grasps just to be able to get on her way. But that afternoon, it was different, her aunts had practically pushed her out of the door and it was still hours before sunset. It was as if her aunts _wanted _her out of the house, Rose had shook her head at the thought. That never happened before, was it actually possible that her aunts were finally letting her have some independence after the many years of begging them for it?

She shook her head to dispel the thoughts bouncing around in her head. No matter what the reason was, at least she was able to go to the glen much earlier than she normally would. Rose took a deep breath and looked around. She was somewhat disappointed to find it empty as it usually was. She laughed at how silly she was being. Rose met Killian just before sunset. _He'd probably be here at around the same time, _she thought to herself as she went further into the glen and nearer to the stream.

A rustling of the leaves made Rose stop from walking and turn in her tracks. She saw Killian entering the glen, he didn't see her, he was busy trying not to drop what she saw were various fruits and berries in his arms. When he was able to enter the glen without a single berry falling, Rose let out a giggle and started clapping. Hook raised his face and saw her standing there and a huge smile spread on his face. He walked forward and stopped when he was just right in front of her.

"Very talented, sir" Rose giggled at him

"Thank you, love" Hook answered back while nodding his head in a fake bow "I pride myself with being able to carry a lot of items at one time with more grace than a regular person would."

Rose just shook her head in amusement and stepped closer to help him with what he had in his arms "What are all these for anyway?" when she saw that he was carrying various kinds of fruit.

"I thought that we could use a snack" Hook moved to put them in a neat pile at their feet, "I did some exploring before you got here and who knew that there were a lot of different kinds of fruits and berries in this forest?"

"I did" Rose replied helping him with the pile "I do live here, and that's usually what I come out to the forest for. Gathering berries for my aunts when they need them."

And that's how their afternoon together started. They spent the time idling away in the shade of the trees in the glen, near the stream, talking and laughing while eating the various fruits that Hook had collected.

Hook was fascinated by the different anecdotes that Rose told about her life in the forest, and especially about her quirky aunts who seemed not very skilled at doing household chores. She told him about how their little cottage was clean but somewhat disorganized with cups and bowls somehow ending up in the closet with the linens and spoons in the living room as if her aunts weren't used to putting away their little knick-knacks. She also told him about how none of her three aunts could cook and was dreadful in the kitchen.

"But you've lived with them all your life!" Hook told her as he let out a laugh "How did you eat, especially when you were a child?"

"Oh, Aunt Flora's cooking is the most edible" Rose giggled "She can only make really simple meals though. Like bread and cheese or salads, anything that don't involve heat. I learned how to cook at the age of ten, and I've been cooking for them ever since."

"Now that's impressive" Hook praised her, bringing a light shade of pink to appear on her cheeks.

On the other hand, Hook enchanted Rose by his tales of distant lands and different worlds filled with mermaids and Indians (he left out the part about the crocodile he was after and an annoying flying boy and his crew). He enjoyed seeing the sparkle in her eyes as he told her his stories and how she laughed at the actions that came along with his storytelling.

"That's amazing" Rose breathed, the wonder still in her eyes as she imagined the fairies and mermaids and _flying. _

"It's nothing, really." Hook mumbled; suddenly shy at the admiring look on the young girl's face.

"Oh, but it is!" Rose exclaimed "It really is! I've never been anywhere other than this forest and the town."

The young girl's expression became somber and her voice was very soft when she whispered "I've always wanted. . ." then she trailed off, looking far off into the distance, beyond the trees that kept their little glen hidden.

"You've always wanted what?" Hook prodding her to continue, moving closer to her and playfully bumping his shoulder into hers.

"Never mind, it's kind of silly" Rose replied, blushing again and refused to look at his eyes.

"How can you be so sure?" Hook said softly as he reached out to turn her face towards his "Try me."

Rose's breath hitched as he found herself gazing into the pirate's impossibly blue eyes that seemed to resemble the sea that he loved so much. She realized that she'd been gazing for a few moments too long, and she leaned a bit away as she told herself to take deep breaths and calm down.

"I've always wanted to get away." She began softly "I mean, I love my aunts, I really do but I've lived in our cottage my whole life and I've never known anyone else aside from them. I've always wondered what it would be like beyond the town, beyond the sea and mountains that border this place." She turned to look at him "Most likely not for forever, after all, I don't think my Aunts would be able to keep a neat house without me, and someone has to feed them!"

Hook laughed weakly at this, and when Rose turned to look at him she saw that his face formed an unreadable expression. "What is it?" She asked him "Did I say something wrong?"

"No, it's not you" He answered the charming smile back on his face, although this time he didn't feel as light as before "You just remind me of . . . a friend of mine. She too, longed for adventure. And, well, we traveled for some time."

"Oh" Rose muttered, not knowing what else to reply "Where is she now?"

"She's gone" Hook whispered.

Their atmosphere quickly became a quiet and low-spirited one; Hook mentally berated himself for this. They were supposed to be laughing together and enjoying each other's company, not crying their hearts out. After all, they just met; Hook shouldn't be even thinking about . . . _Her_ just yet.

He shook his head and flashed another smile directly at Rose and she found her breathing uneven again. "So, if you could go anywhere, where would you go and what would you like to see?" He asked her.

"Oh, um, I hadn't really thought about that" Rose replied, her brow wrinkling as she thought about it "I don't really know what can be seen out there, but I suppose I'd start with a castle."

"And why would you start with a castle?" Hook inquired, amused by what she said.

"Well, back when I was a little girl my aunts would tell me stories before I went to sleep at night." She explained "My favorite was the one about a lost princess who was hiding from an evil queen and true love's kiss saved the day." An amused expression came across Hook's face; Rose blushed and quickly turned away "I'm sorry; I told you it was silly" she murmured.

"No, not at all" Hook told her while nudging his shoulder against hers. He leaned his face closer to hers. Rose turned her head and now they were face-to-face with only an inch or two between them.

Time seemed to stop for the two of them. They were both surprised by the kiss, Rose because she didn't think that he'd actually kiss her and Hook because he didn't think that she'd let him. Hook found that her lips were soft just like he expected and Rose's initial shock fell away and she soon found herself kissing him back.

They kissed for what seemed like hours and Hook only pulled back when he felt that they both needed to breathe. Afterward, they sat there entranced by each other's eyes until Rose noticed the light coming into the glen.

"What time is it?" She asked, worry creeping into her voice.

"Sunset?" Killian replied not really caring at the time "Why? Does it matter?"

Rose immediately stood up and began looking around for her cloak and her basket "I have to go" she exclaimed "My aunts will be looking for me."

But before she could leave, Hook grabbed her arm and turned her toward him, "Come again tomorrow" he asked "And come early, I want to show you my ship."

Rose's eyes widened at that "Really? Can I go aboard?"

"Of course you can" Hook replied with a cheeky grin "As long as you come early tomorrow."

"Then I'll be here, I promise" Rose replied, and before Hook could say anything else (or try to steal a kiss, she broke free of his grasp and ran out of the glen.

Rose made her way home in a very happy mood and she couldn't stop her thoughts from going back to Killian (though she didn't try to begin with). She was humming to herself as she went along.

When she got home, Rose was surprised to see that there were no lights and it seemed as though there was nobody inside. Where were her aunts? A chill crept up her spine and wiped off the smile off her face. As she went nearer the house she prayed that nothing ill has befallen them.

Rose opened the door and found that it was extremely dark inside the house. "Hello?" she called out nervously "Aunt Flora? Aunt Fauna? Aunt Merriweather? Where are you?" She took a few steps inside slowly when-

**A/N: Hi guys, so I'm really sorry for not updating for a long time but I'm kind of having this problem of I know where I want the story to go but I have a hard time writing it down in words. And a bit about Hook's characterization (for example, is he being OOC? Or is he being a bit too nice? If you think so please mention in the reviews).**

**Constructive Criticisms are welcome **** And thanks so much for everyone who has messaged so far.**

**Also in a not-so-strange turn of events, I am currently in **_**Russia **_**(I'm from the Philippines just in case anyone cares) so that also affected the speed of my writing.**


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